"eponymous Erymanthus. The most commonly accepted version, however, states that Ares turned himself into a boar and killed Adonis out of jealousy, though it is against the theme of Arachne and Athena. Heracles' fourth labour—by some counts, for there is no single definitive telling—was to capture the Boar. On the way there, Heracles visited Pholus (""caveman""), a kind and hospitable centaur and old friend. Hercules ate with him in his cavern—though the centaur devoured his meat raw—and asked for wine. Pholus had only one jar of wine, a gift from Dionysus to all the centaurs on Mt. Erymanthos. Heracles convinced"
"Erymanthian Boar In Greek mythology, the Erymanthian boar (Greek: ὁ Ἐρυμάνθιος κάπρος; Latin: ""aper Erymanthius"") is a monstrous wild boar remembered in connection with The Twelve Labours, in which Heracles, the (reconciled) enemy of Hera, visited in turn ""all the other sites of the Goddess throughout the world, to conquer every conceivable 'monster' of nature and rededicate the primordial world to its new master, his Olympian father,"" Zeus. In the primitive highlands of Arcadia, where old practices lingered, the Erymanthian boar was a giant fear-inspiring creature of the wilds that lived on Mount Erymanthos, a mountain that was apparently once"
"these creatures and held them sacred. Deer were also the first animals she captured. She caught five golden horned deer called Elaphoi Khrysokeroi and harnessed them to her chariot. The third labour of Heracles, commanded by Eurystheus, consisted of catching the Cerynitian Hind alive. Heracles begged Artemis for forgiveness and promised to return it alive. Artemis forgave him but targeted Eurystheus for her wrath. Artemis got her hunting dogs from Pan in the forest of Arcadia. Pan gave Artemis two black-and-white dogs, three reddish ones, and one spotted one – these dogs were able to hunt even lions. Pan also"
"For the eleventh labour Heracles had to obtain the Apples of the Hesperides; he convinced their father, the Titan Atlas, to help him, but did his share of work by temporarily holding up the sky in the Titan's stead. For his final labour, he was to capture Cerberus, the three-headed hound that guarded the entrance to Hades. When he managed to bring the struggling animal back, the terrified Eurystheus hid in his jar one more time, begging Heracles to leave for good and take the dog with him. After Heracles died, Eurystheus remained bitter over the indignity the hero had"
"them to roam freely in the Argolid. Bucephalus, Alexander the Great's horse, was said to be descended from these mares. To acquire the belt of Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons was Heracles ninth task. This task was at the request of Eurystheus' daughter, Admete. For the tenth labour, he stole the cattle of the giant Geryon, which Eurystheus then had sacrificed to Hera. To extend what may have once been ten Labours to the canonical dozen, it was said that Eurystheus didn't count the Hydra, as he was assisted, nor the Augean stables, as Heracles received payment for his work."
"Birds off the marshes they plagued. He did so, shooting down several birds with his Hydra-poisoned arrows and bringing them back to Eurystheus as proof. For his seventh labour, Heracles captured the Cretan Bull. He used a lasso and rode it back to his cousin. Eurystheus offered to sacrifice the bull to Hera his patron, who hated Heracles. She refused the sacrifice because it reflected glory on Heracles. The bull was released and wandered to Marathon, becoming known as the Marathonian Bull. When Heracles brought back the man-eating Mares of Diomedes successfully, Eurystheus dedicated the horses to Hera and allowed"
"freeing of Prometheus. Heracles had visited Chiron to gain advice on how to catch the boar, and Chiron had told him to drive it into thick snow, which sets this Labour in mid-winter. Having successfully caught the Boar, Heracles bound it and carried it back to Eurystheus, who was frightened of it and ducked down in his half-buried storage ""pithos"", begging Heracles to get rid of the beast, a favorite subject for the vase-painters. Heracles obliged. Roger Lancelyn Green states in his ""Tales of the Greek Heroes"" that Heracles threw it in the sea. It then swam to Italy, where"
"Slay the Nemean Lion. 2. Slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra. 3. Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis. 4. Capture the Erymanthian Boar. 5. Clean the Augean stables in a single day. 6. Slay the Stymphalian Birds. 7. Capture the Cretan Bull. 8. Steal the Mares of Diomedes. 9. Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. 10. Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon. 11. Steal the apples of the Hesperides (he had the help of Atlas to pick them after Hercules had slain Ladon). 12. Capture and bring back Cerberus. After completing these tasks, Heracles joined the Argonauts"
"over on the condition that Eurystheus himself come out and take it from him. The King came out, but the moment that Hercules let the hind go, it sprinted back to its mistress, and Hercules left saying that Eurystheus had not been quick enough. Eurystheus was disappointed that Hercules had overcome yet another creature and was humiliated by the Hind's escape, so he assigned Hercules another dangerous task. By some accounts, the fourth labour was to bring the fearsome Erymanthian Boar back to Eurystheus alive (there is no single definitive telling of the labors). On the way to Mount Erymanthos"
"Diomedes of Thrace King Diomedes of Thrace (Ancient Greek: Διομήδης) was the son of Ares and Cyrene. He lived on the shores of the Black Sea ruling the warlike tribe of Bistones. He is known for his man-eating horses, which Heracles stole in order to complete the eighth of his Twelve Labours, slaying Diomedes in the process. Heracles encounters King Diomedes through performing his eighth labour. Eurystheus, King of Tiryns and Heracles cousin, had sent Heracles to capture the Mares of Diomedes after he had completed his seventh labour, capturing the Cretan Bull. Heracles travelled to the shores of the"
"through Greece, Thrace, Istria, and the land of the Hyperboreans. In some versions, he captured the hind while it slept, rendering it lame with a trap net. In other versions, he encountered Artemis in her temple and she told him to leave the hind and tell Eurystheus all that had happened and his third labour would be considered to be completed. Yet another version claims that Heracles trapped the hind with an arrow between the fore legs of the creature. Eurystheus had given Heracles this task hoping to incite Artemis' anger at Heracles for his desecration of her sacred animal."
"too far into the swamp, for it would not support his weight. Athena, noticing the hero's plight, gave Hercules a rattle which Hephaestus had made especially for the occasion. Hercules shook the rattle and frightened the birds into the air. Hercules then shot many of them with his arrows. The rest flew far away, never to return. The Argonauts would later encounter them. The seventh labour was to capture the Cretan Bull. Hercules sailed to Crete, where King Minos gave Hercules permission to take the Bull away and even offered him assistance (which Hercules declined plausibly because he did not"
"the labour had not been completed alone and as a result did not count towards the ten labours set for him. Eurystheus' third task did not involve killing a beast, but capturing one alive - the Cerynian Hind, a golden-horned stag sacred to Artemis. Heracles knew that he had to return the hind, as he had promised, to Artemis, so he agreed to hand it over on the condition that Eurystheus himself come out and take it from him. Eurystheus did come out, but the moment Heracles let the hind go, she sprinted back to her mistress, and Heracles departed,"
"bull to Athena and/or Apollo. The eighth labour was to bring back the Mares of Diomedes, which had been trained to eat human flesh by their owner, King Diomedes of Thrace. In one version of the story, Hercules brought a number of youths to help him. They took the mares, called Podargos (""swift-footed""), Lampon (""the shining""), Xanthos (""the blond""), and Deinos (""the terrible""), and were chased by Diomedes and his men. Hercules was not aware that the horses were kept tethered to a bronze manger because they were wild; their madness being attributed to an unnatural diet of human flesh."
"to his master. After completing the Twelve Labours, one tradition says Hercules joined Jason and the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. However Herodorus (c. 400 BC) disputed this, and denied Hercules ever sailed with the Argonauts. A separate tradition (e.g. ""Argonautica"") has Hercules accompany the Argonauts, but he did not travel with them as far as Colchis. Labours of Hercules The Twelve Labours of Heracles or Hercules (, "" hoi Hērakleous athloi"") are a series of episodes concerning a penance carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, whose name was later Romanised as Hercules."
"sent to kill the Nemean lion, which he does successfully, and turns the fleece into a coat. He also drives away the Stymphalian birds with the help of Athena's cymbals. Some of the labors are; the slaying of the Lernaean Hydra, catching the stag of Artemis, the Cathmanian boar, the Cretan bull, cleaning the Augeean stables, getting the girdle of Hippolyte, the man-eating mares of Diomedes and the Cattle of Geryon (but the monster is not shown). The last challenge is the most dreadful, Hercules is forced down to the Underworld to take Cerberus. He retrieves Cerberus and takes him"
"later led to him undertaking his famous labours. Hera assigned Heracles to labour for King Eurystheus at Mycenae. She attempted to make almost each of Heracles' twelve labours more difficult. When he fought the Lernaean Hydra, she sent a crab to bite at his feet in the hopes of distracting him. Later Hera stirred up the Amazons against him when he was on one of his quests. When Heracles took the cattle of Geryon, he shot Hera in the right breast with a triple-barbed arrow: the wound was incurable and left her in constant pain, as Dione tells Aphrodite in"
"up his immortality, and take the place of Prometheus, who had been chained in to the top of a mountain to have his liver eaten daily by an eagle, although he was an immortal Titan. Prometheus' torturer, the eagle, continued its torture on Chiron, so Heracles shot it dead with an arrow. It is generally accepted that the tale was meant to show Heracles as being the recipient of Chiron's surrendered immortality. However, this tale contradicts the fact that Chiron later taught Achilles. The tale of the Centaurs sometimes appears in other parts of the twelve labours, as does the"
"want the labor to be discounted as before). The Bull had been wreaking havoc on Crete by uprooting crops and leveling orchard walls. Hercules snuck up behind the Bull and then used his hands to throttle it (stopping before it was killed), and then shipped it back to Tiryns. Eurystheus, who hid in his ""pithos"" at first sight of the creature, wanted to sacrifice the Bull to Hera, who hated Hercules. She refused the sacrifice because it reflected glory on Hercules. The Bull was released and wandered into Marathon, becoming known as the Marathonian Bull. Theseus would later sacrifice the"
"was ultimately discounted as the rushing waters had done the work of cleaning the stables and because Hercules was paid for it. Eurystheus said that Hercules still had seven labours to perform. The sixth labour was to defeat the Stymphalian birds, man-eating birds with beaks of bronze and sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victim. They were sacred to Ares, the god of war. Furthermore, their dung was highly toxic. They had migrated to Lake Stymphalia in Arcadia, where they bred quickly and took over the countryside, destroying local crops, fruit trees, and townspeople. Hercules could not go"
"relieve him temporarily while Hercules adjusted his cloak. Atlas agreed, but Hercules reneged and walked away with the Apples. According to an alternative version, Hercules slew Ladon, the dragon-like guardian of the Apples, instead. Eurystheus was furious that Hercules had accomplished something that Eurystheus thought could not possibly be done. The twelfth and final labour was the capture of Cerberus, the 3-headed hound that was guardian of the gates of the underworld. To prepare for his descent into the underworld Hercules went to Eleusis (or Athens) to be initiated in the Eleusinian Mysteries. He entered the underworld, and Hermes and"
"Minos, to fall in love with the bull. She subsequently gave birth to the half-man, half-bull, Minotaur. Poseidon passed on his rage to the bull, causing it lay waste the land. After consulting the oracle at Delphi, Minos had Daedalus construct the Labyrinth to hold the Minotaur. Heracles was sent to capture the bull by Eurystheus as his seventh task. He sailed to Crete, whereupon Minos gave Heracles permission to take the bull away as it had been wreaking havoc on Crete by uprooting crops and leveling orchard walls. Heracles captured the bull, and then shipped it to Eurystheus in"
"""three-headed"". Heracles killed Orthus, and drove away Geryon's cattle, with Cerberus following along behind. Molossus, a Mycenaen, offered to buy Cerberus from Eurystheus (presumably having received the dog, along with the cattle, from Heracles). But when Eurystheus refused, Molossus stole the dog and penned him up in a cave in Tainaron. Eurystheus commanded Heracles to find Cerberus and bring him back. After searching the entire Peloponnesus, Heracles found where it was said Cerberus was being held, went down into the cave, and brought up Cerberus, after which it was said: ""Heracles descended through the cave into Hades and brought up"
"hind by the glint on its antlers. Hercules then chased the hind on foot for a full year through Greece, Thrace, Istria, and the land of the Hyperboreans. In some versions, he captured the hind while it slept, rendering it lame with a trap net. In other versions, he encountered Artemis in her temple; she told him to leave the hind and tell Eurystheus all that had happened, and his third labor would be considered to be completed. Yet another version claims that Hercules trapped the Hind with an arrow between its forelegs. Eurystheus had given Hercules this task hoping"
"gave the name ""Cerberus"" to a genus of Asian snakes, which are commonly called ""dog-faced water snakes"" in English. Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus (; ""Kerberos"" ), often called the ""hound of Hades"", is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. Cerberus was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon, and usually is described as having three heads, a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from parts of his body. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, one of Heracles' twelve labours. Descriptions of Cerberus vary, including"
"The Stymphalian birds were defeated by the hero Heracles (Hercules) in his sixth labour for Eurystheus. Heracles could not go into the marsh to reach the nests of the birds, as the ground would not support his weight. Athena, noticing the hero's plight, gave Heracles a rattle called a ""krotala"", which Hephaestus had made especially for the occasion. Heracles shook the krotala (similar to castanets) on a certain mountain that overhung the lake and thus frightening the birds into the air. Heracles then shot many of them with feathered arrows tipped with poisonous blood from the slain Hydra. The rest"
"water. Among these men was Heracles' servant Hylas who was gathering water while Heracles was out finding some wood to carve a new oar to replace the one that broke. The nymphs of the stream where Hylas was collecting were attracted to his good looks, and pulled him into the stream. Heracles returned to his Labors, but Hylas was lost forever. Others say that Heracles went to Colchis with the Argonauts, got the Golden Girdle of the Amazons and slew the Stymphalian Birds at that time. The Argonauts departed, losing their bearings and landing again at the same spot that"
"should get the kingdom, Hera thwarted his ambitions by delaying Alcmene's labour and having her candidate Eurystheus born prematurely.Heracles' first task was to slay the Nemean Lion and bring back its skin, which Heracles decided to wear. Eurystheus was so scared by Heracles' fearsome guise that he hid in a subterranean bronze winejar, and from that moment forth all labors were communicated to Heracles through a herald, Copreus. For his second labour, to slay the Lernaean Hydra, Heracles took with him his nephew, Iolaus, as a charioteer. When Eurystheus found out that Heracles' nephew had helped him he declared that"
"his duty was to bring these souls to the underworld and no one would persuade him to do otherwise. Cerberus (Kerberos), or the ""Hell-Hound"", is Hades' massive multi-headed (usually three-headed) dog with some descriptions stating that it also has a snake-headed tail and snake heads on its back and as its mane. Born from Echidna and Typhon, Cerberus guards the gate that serves as the entrance of the underworld. Cerberus' duty is to prevent dead people from leaving the underworld. Heracles once borrowed Cerberus as the final part of the Labours of Heracles. Orpheus once soothed it to sleep with"
"to the Hydra's poison, washed from the arrows Hercules used on the centaur. Eurystheus and Hera were greatly angered that Hercules had survived the Nemean Lion and the Lernaean Hydra. For the third labour, they found a task which they thought would spell doom for the hero. It was not slaying a beast or monster, as it had already been established that Hercules could overcome even the most fearsome opponents. Instead, Eurystheus ordered him to capture the Ceryneian Hind, which was so fast that it could outrun an arrow. After beginning the search, Hercules awoke from sleeping and saw the"
"Cerberus In Greek mythology, Cerberus (; ""Kerberos"" ), often called the ""hound of Hades"", is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. Cerberus was the offspring of the monsters Echidna and Typhon, and usually is described as having three heads, a serpent for a tail, and snakes protruding from parts of his body. Cerberus is primarily known for his capture by Heracles, one of Heracles' twelve labours. Descriptions of Cerberus vary, including the number of his heads. Cerberus was usually three-headed, though not always. Cerberus had several multi-headed relatives. His father"
"Labours of Hercules The Twelve Labours of Heracles or Hercules (, "" hoi Hērakleous athloi"") are a series of episodes concerning a penance carried out by Heracles, the greatest of the Greek heroes, whose name was later Romanised as Hercules. They were accomplished over 12 years at the service of King Eurystheus. The episodes were later connected by a continuous narrative. The establishment of a fixed cycle of twelve labours was attributed by the Greeks to an epic poem, now lost, written by Peisander, dated about 600 BC. After Hercules killed his wife and children, he went to the oracle"
"stones into the river to make the water shallower. When he finally reached the court of Eurystheus, the cattle were sacrificed to Hera. After Hercules completed the first ten labours, Eurystheus gave him two more, claiming that slaying the Hydra didn't count (because Iolaus helped Hercules), neither did cleaning the Augean Stables (either because he was paid for the job or because the rivers did the work). The first additional labour was to steal the apples from the garden of the Hesperides. Hercules first caught the Old Man of the Sea, the shape-shifting sea god, to learn where the Garden"